Employees claim missed paychecks after sudden closure of Chicago Birth Center

CHICAGO - Former employees at Chicago Birth Center say they were blindsided after the facility abruptly shut down operations, leaving workers without answers — and, they claim, without pay.

The backstory:

"Unfortunately, last Friday we received a letter stating that we should all consider ourselves to be laid off," said Tanesha Gunn, an educator who worked for the company for five years.

Gunn says employees have not been paid in nearly a month.

"The issue with this is they have not paid us in exactly one month," Gunn said. "We are trying to reach out to them to get any type of resolution. No one is answering any internal communications. No one's reaching out via phone calls, emails, anything. Everything is just mute."

The closure is impacting patients and staff at the Chicago Birth Center location in the 3800 block of North Lincoln Avenue.

Patients were left scrambling for care. Employees say they were left in the dark.

Melissa Peterson, a nurse midwife at the center, said staff members worked quickly to contact patients after learning the facility would stop operating.

"We called everybody personally by telephone and we transfer the records to make sure that they didn't have a gap in care," Peterson said. "All the while feeling all of the emotions of grief and abandonment, wondering how we're gonna pay our bills, and we just want people to know what is going on because we're feeling very lost."

A statement posted on the company’s website says the location is "not currently accepting patients or providing clinical care due to an unexpected lapse in malpractice insurance coverage required for state licensure."

The statement adds that families currently receiving care are being supported through referrals, medical records assistance, and guidance connecting them with other providers throughout the Chicagoland area.

But former employees believe the issues may run deeper than insurance coverage alone.

Workers including Gunn and Peterson say patients are still showing up for appointments, unaware the center has closed.

"We just want to let all of our patients, all of our clients, know that we are so sad that this happened," Peterson said. "We had absolutely no ability to stop this or to know that it was going to happen before it happened. We wish we had known. We would have warned you ahead of time."

Employees say they received little to no warning before operations suddenly stopped.

And according to workers, this is not the first sign of financial trouble.

Dig deeper:

The same Chicago location temporarily closed in June 2025 amid reported payroll issues.

Now, concerns are spreading beyond Illinois.

A voicemail at a company location in Indianapolis states the office is "permanently closed." Another location in Columbus, Ohio, is listed online for auction. Employees also say the company’s Burr Ridge location closed on April 16 because of an insurance lapse.

As questions mounted, attention turned to the founder of Birth Partners Inc., Dr. Dele Ogunleye.

According to the company’s website, Ogunleye trained as an obstetrician in England, completed a residency at Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, and practices in Bloomington, Illinois.

Public records from the State Medical Board of Ohio show a medical license for Bamidele Ogunleye expired in March of this year.

Multiple calls and emails seeking comment from Ogunleye about the closures, unpaid wages, insurance lapse, and patient care concerns were not returned.

Former employees say the silence has only added to the uncertainty.

For many workers, the sudden closure is about more than losing a job.

It’s about unpaid wages, mounting bills, and uncertainty over what comes next.

"No one's reaching out via phone calls, emails, anything," Gunn said. "Everything is just mute. We would like to be paid for our services that we worked."

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